GTA IV DLC may not be out this year

Rockstar bigwig Dan Houser has said he doesn't know when the downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto IV on Xbox 360 will be released.

In an interview with Variety, Houser was asked whether the DLC will be here by the end of 2008. He replied, "I'm not sure. It's going well, but we don't know a date.

"We hope to be announcing that in the next few weeks," Houser continued. "We're still figuring out a few things. We're more focused on quality than dates, always have been. But the development is going really good. It's shaping up to be something we're very proud of. That was our goal."

Don't get too excited, though - Rockstar wouldn't want you to be disappointed when the DLC finally gets here.

"We want to give people a rough idea so their expectations are roughly in line," said Houser. "We don't want them to imagine it's this enormous thing that it can never be."

It's new territory, the Rockstar bossman went on to explain, and not just for Rockstar. "No one ever game out with major DLC for a major game like this before... We're making it up a little bit as we go along."

Microsoft can't be happy to learn the DLC might not be out until 2009. Back in September the company was promising it would be available "this autumn", and that Xbox 360 would be "the only console with new Grand Theft Auto IV content available this Christmas". Wonder if they kept that receipt.

Ellie spent nearly a decade working at Eurogamer, specialising in hard-hitting executive interviews and nob jokes. These days she does a comedy show and podcast. She pops back now and again to write the odd article and steal our biscuits.